Home
by Lorraine Romanoff
Summary: A life-threatening incident in the library makes Cassandra and Jake realize just how much Ezekiel means to them and how much they mean to Ezekiel. In the after-math, Cassandra must learn to overcome her guilt and Jake must learn to appreciate those around him.


**A.N. This story takes place a little after season 2. This is my first time writing for the Librarians so I hope I didn't completely butcher the characterization of these characters. I hope you enjoy reading it!**

* * *

Ezekiel hates research with every fiber of his being. He hates the stench of rotting books and the scratchy feeling at the back of his throat from the dust. Yet here he is, helping with research, which means carrying the back breaking piles of books that Stone and Cassandra hand him. The stack he is currently holding reeks of mildew and dust; the books this deep in the library tend to smell the worst. Although he is only carrying two books, his arms protest with the weight. Each of the books is bound in leather and are at least 1,000 pages each. Stone is a couple of feet above his head, bringing down yet another old and unnecessarily heavy book for him to carry. This one is larger than the last. He wonders if they really need this book, or if Stone is just picking the biggest books for him to carry. A few feet away, Cassandra is also reaching for books for him to carry. He can see her fiery red hair that is so much brighter than all of the books in the library from where he's standing. The book she is reaching for looks dangerously heavy and sits just above a shelf stuffed with glowing jars. Just as Cassandra pulls out the book she needs, she stumbles and the books slips from her grasp. She clutches on to the ladder, thankfully not falling off. However, the book is not so lucky. As it falls it takes one of the glowing jars from the shelf below it, the one glowing blue.

Everything that happens next seems to happen in slow motion for Ezekiel. The jar shatters when it hits the floor, the glass shards flying in every direction. The blue orb inside the glass doesn't dissipate, instead it's sent hurtling straight towards Stone, who has almost reached the bottom of the ladder. Before he knows what he is doing, the books are on the ground and he has one hand on the ladder and the other on Stone's waist, pushing him out of the orb's path. He means to move away from the orb's path, but he isn't fast enough. Before he has a chance to take another step, the orb slams into his temple, sending a chill down his spine before everything goes dark.

* * *

As Jacob rises from where he was violently pushed down, he gets prepared to toss a well placed "Hey, watch it!" However, the words die on his lips as his eyes land on Ezekiel's still form. Ezekiel's lips have a blue tint to them and his hair and eyelashes are coated in a thin layer of ice. His skin is as white as a sheet of paper. He looks as if he is knocking at death's door.

"Ezekiel?" When he doesn't respond Jake kneels by his side and nudges his shoulder, as if he were waking him from sleep. Even through the fabric of his shirt, Jake can feel that Ezekiel's skin is as cold as ice. Jake's heart hammers in his chest as he reaches out for his wrist, praying for a pulse.

"Jake?" Cassandra slowly approaches them, fearing the worst. Jake doesn't respond, instead he drops Ezekiel's wrist and places two fingers to his neck. He digs his nails into the palm of his hand to keep his hand from shaking so he can count the seconds on his watch. He almost cries in relief when he feels Ezekiel's weak pulse beneath his fingers. He composes himself and turns to Cassandra, attempting to keep a brave face for her.

"Find Jenkins and Colonel Baird. Meet me in the Annex." Cassandra's eyes widen in fear and she does not move. She remains rooted to the spot, her eyes welling up with tears and fixed on Ezekiel.

"Now, Cassandra!" She jumps and nods furiously before she moves to leave. She wipes her eyes with her sleeve and runs to find Jenkins and Colonel Baird. Jake takes his jacket off and wraps it around Ezekiel tightly before he moves to pick him up. Once he's absolutely sure he has a good grip, he lifts his friend's limp body off the ground bridal style. He is far lighter than he expected, he would have to see that he was eating properly after all of this is over. He clutches his ice-cold body close to his chest, hoping to warm him up. Ezekiel is colder now than when he first touched him and he feels panic rise in his throat. He turns and runs to the Annex, hoping that Jenkins would know what to do. With each step he takes he feels as if he isn't running fast enough, as if with each second that passes Ezekiel inches closer to death. After what seems like an eternity, he bursts into the Annex, where Jenkins and Colonel Baird await with Cassandra.

"He's cold to the touch" he tells Jenkins in between ragged breaths. "Barely has a pulse."

Jenkins stands there, eyes wide and mouth opening and closing, but forming no words. Colonel Baird is immediately at Ezekiel's side, checking his pulse. She looks at Jenkins expectantly, praying that he could help the youngest of her librarians.

"It was a blue jar that fell. The orb hit him on the head" Cassandra adds quickly. She looks desperately between Ezekiel and Jenkins, wringing her hands and bouncing on her heels. "Please say you can help him. Jenkins?"

"Follow me." He curtly turns on his heel, practically running to his lab. When they arrive he immediately starts rooting through cabinets. "Put him down on the island. Cassandra, hand me the rose water. Where in the library where you? I need to know exactly."

"We were in the section about elves and faeries. I was getting Pavel Chekov's book on water elves. It was on the shelf above the jars." Cassandra hands Jenkins a blue vial as she says this. Jenkins takes it and adds the rose water to a small bowl along with some other ingredients. He adds the spit of a fire elf last, the concoction burning a fierce orange for a few seconds. The remaining liquid is as black as onyx. Jenkins takes a dropper and carefully extracts some from the bowl before placing the excess on the counter behind him.

"What is that?" Colonel Baird asks, eyeing the mixture suspiciously.

"It is the antidote to the ice spell that was in that jar. He was lucky that it hit his head; had it hit his heart, I wouldn't be able to do anything for him. This isn't going to be pleasant so I need you and Mr. Stone to hold him down. Miss Cillian I need you to hold his mouth open."

They all follow Jenkin's orders. Jake holds his arms while Colonel Baird holds his legs. Jenkins administers the antidote and for a moment nothing happens. They all look at each other, fearing the worst. Then Ezekiel's eyes fly open and he lets out a bloodcurdling scream. He arches his back and attempts to break out of his friends' grips. Cassandra steps back, chocking back a sob. She covers her mouth with her hand. And then, just as quickly as it began, it's over. Ezekiel is once again limp in their arms. Ezekiel's breathing is back to normal and his lips aren't as blue as they once were.

Jenkins breathes a sigh of relief. "And now we wait."

* * *

His head feels... foggy? sluggish? heavy? Well, whatever the word, he doesn't like the feeling. Why can't he open his eyes? He tries to lift his hand to his face to see if his eyes are open, but he can only manage a twitch. He decides to try to open his eyes one more time, and this time his eyelids don't feel so heavy. Slowly, but surely, he opens his eyes, a little bit at a time. It's bright wherever he is so he tries to put a hand over his eyes, only he doesn't quite have control over his limbs yet and his arm just lifts a little underneath the blanket before falling back on the bed. Or cot?

"Ezekiel?" Someone's trying to talk to him. He should respond. His mouth feels really dry, like he hadn't had anything to drink in a while. Oddly enough he also can't feel the tips of his fingers or the tip of his nose. The voice is coming from his left so he tries turn his head a little to see them, but for some odd reason his head feels like it weighs a ton so his head flops to the side. That motion was a little bit too fast for his liking, so he blinks slowly a few times. Everything looks a distorted, as if he's looking through a frosted glass. He scrunches his eyes shut and slowly opens them. The world becomes clearer, almost back to normal, but there's this weird gray haze at the edges of his vision.

"Ezekiel" the voice tries again. He knows that voice. They sound concerned. Why do they sound concerned?

"Come on, Ezekiel. Say something." He opens his mouth to speak, but closes it. His lips are really dry and his throat is sore. He licks his lips and tries again.

"Yeah?" His voice is barely above a whisper and sounds a lot airier than he had intended. He licks his lips again. Some water would be nice right about now. And another blanket. It's really cold. The voice beside him gives a sigh of relief. He shifts his head a little to see who it is. To his surprise, he finds Colonel Baird sitting next to him, blond hair a little disheveled and looking a little blurry around the edges.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Her voice is soft and quiet, two words he'd never thought he would use to describe the Colonel. He clears his throat and moves to sit up. Before he can get very far, however, a hand pushes him back down. Normally, he would protest, but right now lying down sounds like the best idea ever. He closes his eyes, deciding that what he really needs is a long nap.

"No, no, no. You have to wake up now. You can't go back to sleep." Ezekiel lets out a sound of disapproval. "You can sleep later. For now please open your eyes."

Colonel Baird sounds really concerned now so he decides to open his eyes again. When he opens them, Colonel Baird is there, sitting at the edge of her seat. Soon though she visibly relaxes a little bit before repeating her earlier question.

"How are you feeling?" She speaks in a low, hushed voice, as if she were speaking to a sick child.

"Cold" is his immediate response. A sad look crosses the Colonel's face, but just as suddenly as it appeared it's gone.

"I'm sorry, I can't really do anything about that. Stone and Cassandra wanted to see you as soon as you woke up. Do you want to see them now or do you want to eat something first? Stone made dinner" Then a wave of fear washes over him. He hadn't thought to ask of either of them. Are they okay? Did anymore jars fall of the shelf when the book fell?

"Cassandra and Stone, are they-" a violent coughing fit overtakes his body, leaving him breathless and with tears in his eyes.

"They're fine. Just a little anxious to see you." She answers his unfinished question, a ghost of a smile on her lips. "I'll go get them and Jenkins, just stay awake for me okay?"

He nods as best as he can and she leaves the room. He decides to take this opportunity to look around the room. Without shifting his head too much, he spots a chestnut night stand with waves carved in the wood. It's his night stand, he realizes, so he must be in his room. Before long, Colonel Baird returns only with Jenkins. Ezekiel furrows his eyebrows in confusion. Where were Cassandra and Stone?

"Jenkins wanted to check in on you first. They're right outside the door." He nods, satisfied with her answer.

"Mr. Jones, let's try to sit up, okay?" He nods and moves to prop himself on his elbows. Once he's on his elbows, Colonel Baird places a hand under each of his arm pits and hoists him up so that he is sitting against the head board. He leans his head against the headboard and closes his eyes, panting from the effort. He shivers violently so he reaches for his blanket. Instead, he grabs a jacket that is lying on top of the blanket. It's Stone's jacket. Too cold to care he slips on the sleeves while minding the IV he now notices in his arm. The back of the jacket ends up facing forward. He opens his eyes once more and sees that Colonel Baird has taken a few steps back and stands with her arms crossed. Jenkins pulls out a thermometer from his pocket. He removes the protective cover and turns it on.

"Open your mouth and hold this underneath your tongue." Jenkins orders, shoving the thermometer in his mouth. When it beeps, he takes it from him. He looks at the number and nods seeming to approve the number. He turns to Colonel Baird as he puts away the thermometer.

"His temperature is rising steadily, as it should. He will be fine. For now all he needs is rest, warm blankets, and a warm meal. I will check his temperature every two hours." Colonel Baird nods in response and Jenkins turns back to face him. "You gave us quite a scare there, Mr. Jones. Had that hit your heart, you would have turned into ice."

Ezekiel's eyes widen and he nods, realizing the severity of the circumstances.

"I think it would be better if you only had one visitor at a time for now. That's all from me for now, Mr. Jones. You'll be up and about before you know it." Jenkins smiles and hands him a glass of water before heading for the door. Ezekiel drinks it greedily, finishing the glass before Jenkins has reached the door. Jenkins hesitates as he reaches for the handle. "I am glad that you are okay." And with out waiting for a response, he leaves, leaving the door open for Cassandra or Stone to slip in. Cassandra's head appears first, hesitantly hovering at the door for a second before she knocks. Stone stands just behind her, arms crossed.

"Jenkins said one at a time for now." Cassandra steps in quickly, leaving Stone outside.

"Well, I'll leave you two to catch up. Yell if you need anything." She pats his arm and smiles gently at him before leaving, shutting the door behind her.

"Hey, Ezekiel. Are you- how are you?" Cassandra asks, looking down at her feet. Her hands are shaking so she crosses her arms to hide the fact.

"I'm good. I've never been cooler." Cassandra lets out a wet laugh and wipes a tear from her eyes. She sniffles and tries to choke back a sob.

"Hey, it's okay, I'm okay. Come here." Cassandra practically runs onto the bed, burying her face into his neck. She radiates a welcome warmth and he clings to her gladly. He starts rubbing circles on her back, attempting to soothe her. Cassandra says something, but it's muffled so he doesn't understand her. "What? You're going to have to say that again."

Cassandra pulls away from him and leans her shoulder on the head rest and sits facing him, her legs neatly tucked beneath her. She wipes a stray tear away, her eyes red and puffy from crying. Ezekiel misses her warmth already.

"I'm sorry. It's my fault that this happened. I'm so sorry Ezekiel." She hugs herself tightly, withdrawing more from his touch with every word.

"No it's not. Come on, who leaves something so dangerous at the edge of a shelf?" He cautiously scoots closer to her, thankful when she doesn't move away from him. "It's not your fault."

"Still, I should have been more careful, more aware of my surroundings. I should have seen the threat, I should have noticed how close to the edge the jar was and I should have moved it or something. I put both Jake's and your lives at risk and that's not okay." She speaks quickly, only gasping for air when she's finished. More tears well at her eyes, threatening to spill over. She takes a deep breath before continuing. "I put your life at risk and that's not okay. You have protected me, stood by me, and trusted in me when no one else did. And yet you could have been killed by my one _stupid_ mistake. You have given me so much and I have given you so little."

"Cassandra-" he pauses. For once, Ezekiel is at a loss for words. He simply can not think of anything that he could say in response. He sighs and tries again. "Look, I may not blame you for what happened, but you clearly do. So I forgive you. I sincerely forgive you. And secondly, you have given so much; more than you can even imagine."

Cassandra looks up at him, confused. Ezekiel swallows the lump in his throat and continues. Cassandra had shown him her vulnerabilities so he could only do the same. "You have given me a home. You have given me your trust. And most importantly, you have given me someone I can rely on. I never had any of those things and now I do, thanks to you, Cassandra."

"I-" A tear slips down her cheek, and instead of using words, she lunges forward to envelop him in a soul-crushing hug. She murmurs a "thank you" in his ear, before releasing him from the hug. Ezekiel shivers once again at the sudden loss of heat and wraps the jacket tighter around himself. He smiles at her, realizing that his friend is no longer upset. Cassandra smiles back gladly. After the smiles fade, an awkward silence settles between them.

"Well, I guess I should let Jake see you; he's probably wondering what's taking us so long." She kisses his temple before she stands. She tosses a "Feel better, Ezekiel." over her shoulder before she leaves. Although he's glad that he was able to make Cassandra feel better, he now feels exhausted. A knock on his door catches his attention. Stone stands in his doorway uneasily, unsure of himself. Ezekiel motions for him to come in and he strides across the room to occupy the seat Colonel Baird had vacated earlier. Stone clears his throat before speaking.

"How- how are you feeling?" There are bags under his eyes from lack of sleep and he's still wearing the same clothes from... Wait, how long was he out for? He would have to ask Stone later. Stone's eyebrows are knitted together in concern. He's leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees. Ezekiel shrugs and grins smugly.

"I've never been cooler" Stone chuckles and shakes his head in disapproval. Ezekiel's smug grin turns into a genuine smile. "In all seriousness, I'm fine, just cold."

"I can see that. You have my jacket on backwards. You want to eat a soup or something?" As if on cue, Ezekiel's stomach growls loudly, answering Stone's question. Stone chuckles lightly.

"So I heard you made dinner. What'd you make?"

"I made my famous three bean chili. Want some?" Ezekiel's face lights up as he mentions chili and Stone grins. That was just the reaction he was looking for.

"Do you even have to ask?" Stone chuckles at his response.

"I guess I'll be back with some chili." Jake leaves and Ezekiel takes the moment alone to relax. He leans his head against the headboard and closes his eyes. It has been a hectic day and he hasn't had a moment to himself since he woke up. Before long, Stone is at the door with a large, two steaming bowls of chili and some water on a tray. Both bowls have a spoon in them. Ezekiel puts on Stone's jacket properly, not wanting to get it dirty.

"I hope you don't mind if I eat with you, I haven't had dinner yet." Stone sets the tray down on Ezekiel's lap carefully. He grabs his bowl of chili and places his water on the nightstand.

"That's okay. I could use the company." They eat in silence for a while, until Ezekiel interrupts it. "How long was I out for?"

"Uh, about three days." Stone answers. Ezekiel nods, eyes widening with shock momentarily before he continues eating. With a few bites, Ezekiel feels warmer already. About halfway through his bowl of chili, he notices Stone staring at him.

"What's wrong, mate?" Stone clears his throat and opens his mouth to say something, but closes it. He scrunches his eyebrows together, placing his spoon in his chili before speaking.

"Ezekiel, when we first met, I formed a picture of you in my head. And until recently I've viewed you a certain way. I thought you didn't care about us or the library. And I've let you know what I thought of you." He pauses and places his chili on the nightstand. He scoots forward so he's sitting at the edge of his seat. "I was wrong about you. You care a great deal about us and the library, even if you won't admit it. I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you for saving my life."

Ezekiel places his spoon back in his bowl of chili, stirring it while pondering a response. "Now, I won't admit to caring, but I will say this: you are welcome and I would do it again."

Stone ponders his words for some time before responding. "I want you to know that you can count on me in dire situations."

Stone picks up his chili again and resumes eating. As far as near death experiences go, Ezekiel decides, this one wasn't so bad.

* * *

 **A.N. I hope you enjoyed it! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to let me know by either private messaging me or leaving a comment. Thanks for reading!**


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